VMS and Religion

Some religious organizations use VMS. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Some people in the VMS community believe that VMS is the only operating system that’s worth using. And that any Microsoft product needs to be avoided like the plague.

Windows deserves its reputation. The VMS community sees it clearly, because many of Microsoft’s problems are the same ones that we solved 20+ years ago. A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It also takes the highest level of cognitive development to learn from other people’s mistakes.

The world has lots of platforms: Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Unix (HP-UX, Solaris, Tru64, etc.). And this list is by no means exhaustive — there are embedded systems and mainframes, DOS and CP/M. And, of course, VMS.

Right here at home, I’m using two flavors of Windows, 3 different distributions of Linux, and 3 different VMS platforms (VAX, Alpha, and Itanium).

My clients expect that I know something about the platforms they use, so I’m not only HP certified on VMS, but also Tru64 UNIX. And Red Hat certified. And CompTIA Server+ certified. My IBM mainframe experience is old (very old), but I did live on MVS for a few years.

I recommend against working with anyone who says that there is only One True Operating System. Someday he’ll be a dinosaur. And look how they turned out.

Author: Stan

I was born in Ohio, and have lived most of my life here. I was into technology from an early age: math, chemistry, physics, electronics, amateur radio, flying, scuba diving. My business is an extension of my techological interests. I love what I do.